Thursday, January 15, 2015

Easy Ways Of Speeding Up Your Website Instantly

 

Opera

Many clients wonder why their website is slow and why it gets slower every couple of months. We often assist clients in determining issues with their website and sometimes even need to convince them that it is not related to their hosting service. It’s like having a great car but a lousy chauffeur. No matter how good the car maybe and how fast it could go, if the chauffeur is not competent, the high-end car is worthless. In the same way, no matter how fast your hosting server is, if you do not have a well coded and well designed website, your website is bound to open with a crawl. This article helps draw the attention of website owners to the various things that can be done to speed up their website to make it more SEO friendly.
Clean Code

The most important thing you need to improve your website’s load time is clean and simple programming. There are some programmers who can obtain special effects on a page with 50 lines of code. There are better programmers who can achieve the same thing in 20 lines of code. This is dependent on the skills and experience of the programmer and the logical thought process. Even Search Engines want to serve up clean and quick content to their website visitors. They don’t want to inflict upon their visitors a slow and cluttered website. The short solution is to Keep It Simple.

Onsite Resources
When linking to images or other media that we like from an external website, we often prefer to load the image or music or video by embedding the other persons link in our own page. This is also known as hot-linking. Earlier, some webmasters used to do this to save on their own websites bandwidth usage by causing the image to load from another person’s website and using up their bandwidth.

CDN and Content Caching
A CDN is a content distribution network, which distributes a mirror copy of your website across their global network of servers. When a visitor requests a page from your website, instead of contacting your web hosting server, it contacts the server closest to the visitor, which has a mirror copy of the website. This greatly reduces the time taken to access the page and serves up the content at lightning speed. From time to time, the cache of your website, which is mirrored on the CDN servers is updated. This means that any changes that you make on your website will not be updated across the CDN instantly and your visitors will see a delay in the fresh content. However, you may choose to cache only the static parts of your website which do not change very often, but the dynamic parts of the website can be called from your web hosting server directly.

You can also use page caching techniques to make your pages load faster by creating a temporary storage of the content on the user’s computer. This may cause a delay in displaying fresh content, but you can tweak the cache to only store the static pages to serve up faster.

Minimize Plugins and Frills
A major cause of your website slowing down is 3rd party plugins. We all want to connect with our audience on social media, but you should avoid using third party plugins for social networking. Some of these plugins pull statistics and display information from the plugin creator’s website, which may cause your website to become slow. While your page loads, the information is constantly requested from the plugin maker’s website, which results in your page waiting till the data is transferred from there. A slow plugin may cause your visitors to see the page loading indication in their browser and may also cause other parts of your page or other plugins to remain in the queue. This can drastically reduce the speed of your website pages. To avoid this situation, it is best to remove slow plugins and constantly monitor the page load speed accordingly.

Compression
Some compression tools which are built-in on your web server allow you to compress each request before sending it to your visitor’s computer. When a visitor requests a webpage from your website, the server will zip up the page content and send the compressed information to the user’s browser. The visitor’s browser will then decompress the data and unzip the file for display. This reduces the size of the data being transferred, leading to a reduction in speed and also a reduction in data transfer usage. Compression takes up a bit of processing power on the visitor’s machine and on the server, but the CPU usage is so negligible that it is worth the resources to increase the speed of the website.




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Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Measuring Language on Social Media

 

Image courtesy of (jscreationzs)/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Measuring language on social media is an area that many businesses, large or small, miss out on. Too many businesses focus on the hard numbers – and often the wrong numbers – when it comes to understanding ROI through social media.


Get The Numbers Right
If your internal social media team is focusing on ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ then, chances are, it is failing to use social media in the way it was designed for. When it comes to the numbers, engagement is the key metric you should be following. Failing to get your fans or followers engaged is the equivalent to standing in a room with them and keeping to yourself in the corner.

Listen to the Language
But another important metric is qualitative – listening to the language that people are using when they discuss your brand, either on your social media platforms or on other people’s feeds – often in places you won’t actually be able to access. Quite possibly one of the best examples I’ve seen of this was from a friend’s Facebook feed – Mike Goldman, of Big Brother fame was posting on his wall asking his friends for recommendations of a draftsman or draftswoman who could conjure up some plans for a renovation for his property.





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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Eight Content Lessons From 2014 You Can Apply This Year

 

content-is-king

What happened to the good old days when time used to creep by? We are now into 2015, and another year of content marketing has arrived. As expected, we learned a thing or two from Google last year, and experienced a couple algorithm updates that had both positive and negative impacts.

We can only make educated guesses as to what obstacles Google will throw at us this year, but there is one thing that still remains certain: content marketing is vital for online success.

2014 SEO Updates: A Penguin and Penguin Roundup
Every year, we can usually expect a bit of turmoil from Google’s Panda and Penguin updates. However, in 2014, the shakeup was a bit less painful than professionals anticipated. Panda in particular did not hit the SERPs with an update until about midway through the year — May 19. With the release of Panda 4.0, it became more than just another refresh. This particular Panda update had a new algorithm, with precise ability to sniff out low quality content. The new version of Panda impacted roughly seven percent of search queries in the English language.

More recently, another Panda update rolled out in September. This Panda update wasn’t as hard as Panda updates of the past; roughly three to five percent of search queries were affected. However, this Panda update did have a positive impact on some level. Thanks to Panda 4.1, new tweaks to the algorithm will give small- and medium-sized websites a time to shine. This could possibly be a signal of encouragement for local scale websites to produce more quality content, but only time will tell.
Those who benefited from this particular Panda update include:
  • eCommerce websites that feature compelling content. This is particularly the case for ecommerce websites that offer customers educational content to help make smart purchasing decisions.
  • Large media niche sites with a lot of valuable and relevant content. This also includes smaller scale sites with compelling content, but with a small audience base.
  • As always, websites that are stocked full of strong and unique content that compels customers to take action. Content marketers are always winners in the eyes of Panda, and this latest update is no exception.
There is no question that a pattern has emerged as to what websites are generally safe from Panda updates. High-quality content that serves a purpose will almost always keep you on the safe side of Google’s Panda updates.

Also rolling out in mid-October was Google’s Penguin update. This version of Penguin was much anticipated — offenders waited nearly a year for the new update to roll out. Those who were penalized by Penguin in the past spent months correcting their mistakes and have been at the mercy of Penguin ever since.

To reverse your wrongdoings from Penguin, any unfortunate losers from the update have to wait on a refresh. If you have made the right moves in removing bad backlinks, you might be lucky enough to turn your ranking around. Penguin is known for harsh penalties, and it can be difficult to pull yourself out of the Penguin penalty pit.Penguin’s aim is to take down low-quality Web links that give websites an unethical search engine boost. Buying links and other shady tactics will get you in big trouble with Pengiun, and the penalties mean serious business. Yet again, quality content serves as an antidote to Penguin. If you invest in high-quality content development, you will never need to buy a link in your life.

People link to what’s engaging, educational and relevant. Keep your content and link building efforts on this path, and Penguin should ultimately stay out of your way.

Predictions From The Past
We made a couple predictions last year as to how Google will impact SEO and content development for 2014. We’re proud to say that quite a few of them were right, and some of these predictions can even carry over into 2015.

First, we predicted that Google would crack down on spam. We hit this prediction on the head, especially with the new algorithm rollout of Google’s Payday Loan update. The Payday Loan targets spammy queries, and this year’s update was also designed to protect against some aspects of negative SEO. Other spam-fighters include the usual Panda and Penguin, which target low quality content, over-optimized spam websites, and shady link tactics.

We also predicted that there would be a shift in eCommerce for using content as an SEO strategy. This prediction came true very recently, with the aforementioned Panda 4.1 update. Quality content on eCommerce websites reportedly resulted with a nice SEO boost.

Not surprisingly, we also predicted that content quality would win in 2014. This prediction has been proven time, and time, and time again. Google is notorious for being unpredictable and pulling fast upsets with SEO experts, but one thing has remained the same for quite some time: content marketing pulls a ton of weight in the world of digital marketing.

If you aren’t on the content marketing boat in 2015, your ship is about to sink.

2014 Content Lessons and Your Plan to Move Forward
Google has taught us quite a bit about content marketing in 2014, and there are some solid guidelines to follow this year too. We hope you are on board by now with the content marketing game. In order to not be left behind, here are the lessons we’ve learned this year and how you can fit them into your 2015 content marketing strategy.

Lesson Learned 1: Long Content is Ideal Content. The days of 300-400 word blog posts are long gone. With the Internet becoming heavily saturated and overloaded with information, it takes in-depth writing with expert knowledge in order to win authority with Google. One of the ways that you can achieve Google recognition is with long content. Long content generally starts with 1,000 words and goes up from there. However, research suggests that 2,000 words and above pulls the most weight and have the highest ROI.

Why does long content work so well? There’s a laundry list of reasons. First, assuming that the content is well-written, it keeps visitors on your website for a longer period of time. Longer visit times equate to lower bounce rates, which is desirable in the eyes of Google.

Furthermore, longer content gives marketers an opportunity to be more thorough. Being thorough means that you are being informative and providing value. This is a double win with Google, and can easily be achieved by stretching that word count.

Lesson Learned 2: Over-optimizing and Keyword Stuffing is Out. Focusing heavily on keyword optimization and over optimizing your content is the oldest trick in the book. Let’s be honest, here: it doesn’t fool real people, and it is not going to fool Google. Keywords can give your content a kick, but never supplement your word count with a ridiculously high keyword density. That’s just asking for trouble.

If you need more evidence, Google’s regular algorithm updates should be enough. Just like we predicted that Google would tackle spam in 2014, your keyword-stuffed content will not go undetected. There’s a Panda out there, and it’s hunting for spammy and low quality content.
The bottom line is to use your keywords naturally. Let them flow into your sentences as if they are strokes of a paintbrush. Forcing keywords is a big no-no; just ask Panda.

Lesson 3: Education Spells Success. It’s as easy as A-B-C. In 2014, educational content continued to be a big winner with Panda. eCommerce sites with quality content got a leg up with Web traffic on the Panda 4.1 update, as they helped buyers make informative decisions.

Education pays off in the world of content marketing for multiple reasons. It gives you a position of authority, as you offer expert and credible insight on your services and products. Next, educational content can serve as evergreen content, which can be used over and over again without becoming irrelevant. Educational content is also the perfect supplement to a link building strategy, as you’ll become a source of reference in your niche.

Lesson 4: Content Curation Supplements Your Strategy. Although it isn’t as widely practiced (yet), content curating is a super smart content marketing technique. It adds hours to your watch, ideas to your calendar, and can open new doors for relationship building. Content curation makes sense for busy marketers who can’t always find the time to find the best available content in their niche. Streamlined content curation tools like Scoop.it make marketers’ lives easier, as you can curate content at the click of a button.

Content curation is bound to get big in 2015. Start building authority and establishing your brand with the wonders of content curation.

Lesson 5: Quality Content Comes In All Shapes and Sizes. Content in the form of writing is fantastic, but don’t forget the other versions of content that brings a big bang to your marketing strategy.

Infographics are still widely popular this year. They are the perfect solution to reproducing high quality content with a twist. Infographics pair data and graphics beautifully, which is a big reason why they are so appealing to readers.

Generating content in the form of a video or slideshow is another way to reach your readers in 2014 and beyond. It’s a snap turn a blog post into a slideshow; simply create your design in Google Slides and upload it to Slideshare. You can also include an embedded link to your blog for some extra link juice.

Lesson 6: High-Quality Content Helps With Link Building. Inbound links is one of the stronger signals that Google uses to determine ranking. As an effort to cheat the system, some resort to buying links and other shady tactics to score some extra SEO juice. Google fought back against spammy links with the Penguin update, making link building a much more difficult task.

However, you don’t have to scam the system to score higher search rankings. Creating quality content is a solution to help your website build links naturally. High quality content that is relevant and informative naturally encourages inbound links. Better yet, high quality content has the potential to be linked to from high authority domains; this means that the SEO value increases.

For best link building practices, aim to develop high quality content that delivers. No Penguin penalties included.

Lesson 7: Quality Content Answers Customer Questions. Content that is focused on serving the needs of your audience will always win with Google. Becoming a helpful information hub in your niche will lure in readers, while naturally giving you a boost in traffic.

If you aren’t sure what questions your customers have, ask them yourself. Conduct a Q&A session on Facebook or Twitter. Take the feedback from those social platforms and turn it into content

Lesson 8: Take Advantage of Multiple Social Platforms. Sharing your quality content doesn’t have to be tricky. Social media plays a big role in content marketing, and trying your luck on several platforms can work to your advantage. Social media is not only perfect for sharing your own content, but it’s a hot spot to share curated content as well.

Not to mention, social media helps you discover the engagement factor of your content. Use platforms like Facebook and Twitter for clues that your content is serving its purpose.

We’re always discovering new ways to increase the value of content, and 2014 has offered valuable lessons with how to continue our strategies into the New Year. Regardless of what tricks and trip-ups that Google throws at us next year, high quality content will remain unstoppable and untouched.




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Monday, January 12, 2015

Top 10 Must-Have Resources for Conversions and Rankings in 2015

If your 2015 goals include improving search engine rankings and conversions/sales, you’ll want to make sure you have the following resources in your arsenal. These are the same tools I use to get exceptional results for my own company and my clients.
Here’s to a prosperous and profitable New Year.

Easy Redirect Script – Are you constantly copying and pasting frequently used links? Do you have to share complicated links often? Do you use links that change regularly and constantly have to be updated? This handy tool simplifies all these situations and more. I use this on a daily basis to save me a ton of time and money.

Aweber – I’ve used Aweber for my newsletter since 2009. I’ve tried three or four other list management/autoresponder services and think Aweber is easiest to use, has the best delivery stats and the most responsive customer support.

“You Should Test That” – One of my favorite conversion books of all time; Chris Goward and the Wider Funnel team offer easy recommendations for things you can simply test to improve conversions of your site.

“Words That Sell” – Choosing your words carefully is vital to creating impressive copy that converts. This handy book acts as a copywriter’s thesaurus full of word suggestions to elevate your text.

Fascination Advantage Test – Ever wonder what others really think about you? This quick assessment reveals your No. 1 personality advantage (and disadvantage) in about five minutes. Discover how the world sees you then use the information to build your brand, improve your online reputation and put your best foot forward in all your marketing.

Amazon Bundling Basics & Advanced Strategies – If you’re selling on Amazon, bundling is one of the most effective success strategies. Whether you’ve never created a bundle or you’re ready to implement some advanced tactics, Debra Conrad shows you her best-kept secrets for making more in less time.

Merchant-Fulfilled Mini Course – While almost everything you hear about Amazon selling revolves around FBA, there is a definite place for merchant-fulfilled orders. Jessica Larrew takes you through when and how to take advantage of this alternate Amazon strategy to save money and increase profits.

“73 Ways To Describe A Widget” – If you’ve ever stared blankly at a computer screen straining your brain to write eCommerce product descriptions, you’ll love this book. With 73 strategies for describing products, this timeless classic guarantees you’ll never run out of ideas again.

Pinterest for Ecommerce Sales – Pinterest is fast becoming the ecommerce site owner’s best friend. The magic doesn’t end with the holidays. Lisa Suttora shows you how to use this social media site to drive direct sales all year long.

WebCEO Keyword Research – If you need an affordable tool for doing simple keyword research, Web CEO is my choice.





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